Resumo

SANABRIA, R, SAMUDIO, M, FARINA, N et al. Identificación de especies de candida aisladas de pacientes ambulatorios, hospitalizados, e inmunocomprometidos en Paraguay. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud, dez. 2006, vol.4, no.2, p.45-49. ISSN 1812-9528.

Objective: the typing of Candida species isolated from various clinical samples. Methods: We included in this study 310 isolates of Candida spp from hospitalized (n=133), ambulatory (n=134) and immune-depressed (n=43) patients from four medical centers in Asunción from January 2004 to October 2005. In order to identify the species, the colonies were cultured in CHROMagar Candida® plates and incubated at 35º for 18-24 hours while the API candida microsystem (Biomérieux) was used for those colonies that were not identified by the chromogenic method. Results: Out of the 310 strains, 188 (60.6%) were identified as C. albicans, 79 (25.5%) as C. tropicalis, 33 (10.6%) as C. glabrata, 8 (2.6%) as C. krusei and 2 (0.7%) as C. parapsilosis. C. albicans was the leading species in the samples of ambulatory patients as well as in immune-depressed patients, 81% and 58%, respectively. However, species of C. tropicalis were more frequent than C. albicans in the samples from hospitalized patients (47% and 41%, respectively). Conclusion: Species of Candida non-albicans predominated in samples from hospitalized patients, therefore their typing has to be performed on a routine basis.

Palavras-chave: Candida albicans; Candida non-albicans; immune-depressed patients.